Reflection

In setting out to determine why exactly I write, I first went back and re-read the best papers I had written both in my freshman year of college as well as in my last few years of high school. One of the main consistencies I found in my writing was the method in which I closed out each paper; after reaching my conclusion about the main argument of the essay, I would typically end the final paragraph with some type of abstract question that would relate to the content of the essay but which was intended to allow the reader to consider that argument against the backdrop of much more serious, fundamentally unanswerable issues–i.e. the point of civilization or the nature of evil. At times these final sentences were powerful and enhanced the message of my paper; at times they were inappropriate and confusing, but they were always written for the same general purpose noted above.

When I noticed this trend, the first thing that came to mind was a quote from the first-ever piece of college reading I was assigned, Professor Frank Cioffi’s essay Argumentation in a Culture of Discord: “Philosophical and, more generally, argumentative discourse presents no irrefutable proofs, no indelible answers. In fact, the best writing of this kind tends not to answer but to raise questions, ones that perhaps the audience hadn’t previously considered.” This quote is probably the best way I can think of to explain what I try to do with those frequently over-powerful sentences that conclude my essays; I want to use my writing to discuss a relevant, examinable issue but at the same time I want the reader to be able to consider the argument in the context of much deeper issues in the world to help the reader understand that, although a certain problem can be examined and (seemingly) rationalized or even solved in a 5-page paper, there will always be more questions to ask and more solutions to seek, so one should never close off their mind to the possibility of having their opinions or their values challenged.

I have trouble explaining this reason for why I write even in my own head, so trying to translate it to paper in an interesting manner was rather difficult. As always, I felt like I occasionally over-exaggerated the importance of what I was writing about by using phrases such as “over the course of human history, there has been no more effective way of spreading ideas and effecting change than through the written word” or “Much like mankind’s epic, unending “pursuit of happiness,” academic discourse will never be able to answer enough questions to satisfy the world’s appetite for infinite knowledge” in this paper. I tend to do this a lot when I write about mildly abstract issues–I think possibly because it helps me rationalize why anyone should care about what I’m writing–but despite this, I felt as though I managed to get across my main goal as a developing writer.

I added the final paragraph in my last draft because I felt like my essay needed a little balance between my abstract goals as a writer and my more practical, measurable ones. Environmental reporting is a huge reason why I want to develop my skills as a writer, and I just didn’t feel right leaving that aspect of my aspirations as a writer completely out of my explanation as to why I write. The tone change between the first few paragraphs and that final one is extremely noticeable, but I feel as though that last paragraph acts as a kind of epilogue; I’ve explained my complex, intangible goals as a writer already, now I can show how I plan to apply those goals in a practical context. In this way, the change in tone can maybe be seen as an enhancement to my essay…either way, I couldn’t figure out how to work into my essay the content of that last paragraph in a tone consistent with the rest of the piece.